Pancreas and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Abstract

Pancreatic involvement is an important extraintestinal manifestation
of Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis. Though
not especially common from a symptomatic standpoint, a
quite significant percentage of patients exhibit asymptomatic
involvement, either in the form of elevated pancreatic enzymes
or as abnormal pancreatic imaging in ERCP or MRCP studies.
Still, it remains unclear how pancreatic involvement correlates
with the long-term prognosis of IBD. Moreover, further
research is needed to ascertain the mechanisms of injury.
It is worth noting that in a handful of reports pancreatic
involvement precedes the diagnosis of IBD. Lately the evidence
that support more than an accidental association of
pancreatitis and pancreatic insufficiency in patients with IBD
is growing. According to present data, pancreatic disease
seems to be one of the extraintestinal manifestations in IBD
patients, especially in those with primary sclerosing cholangitis,
so that increased awareness of the possible pancreatic
involvement in IBD is recommended.